this marks the end of another year...

I have sorta "disappeared" off the Web for some time.. No recent update, MSN, Facebook etc.. hmmmz.. quite ironic.. I keep seeking online company during the exam period.. maybe to a point when i'm just so sick of going online..

In any case, this period i disappeared, I was enjoying the company of loved ones, particularly my family.. Mum is clearing her usual annual leave.. so there's alot of mum and sis bonding going on at the end-of-year period.. plus meet-ups with some good frens as usual.. Of cos there was the striving to make christmas gifts for loved ones this year.. But then i have to delay again cos there's this naughty virus that has been flying around my family.. first Ying got stomach flu.. then it transferred to me.. cold, cough and constant bouts of vomitting and lao-sai-ing.. i vomitted and lao-sai-ed 3 times each the nite prior to christmas eve.. wad a sickening way to get by my holiday.. Now it seems the virus has flown to mummy dear.. maybe it is the mum and sis bonding of late.. sighz.. hope she really wun be affected.. I'm still having a bit of the runny nose and stomach pains.. so avoided seeing some people.. sighz.. wad a way to spend christmas..

And i must share a good piece of news.. I have officially GRADUATED!! yippies!! just got my results and i performed better than my expectations.. much much better.. Thank God.. I was so so relieved to see that instead of failing of my most-dreaded module, i did better than what i expected.. Although the results are not by usual standards great, but by mine they are and i am rightfully proud of my own achievements cos it is a reminder to me of my own strength that i can pull through despite the adversaries--the pain and sadness and bitterness of this year.. Each positive thing that comes to me is a great source of encouragement to my esteem--my loving family, my always supportive friends, my academics. Although i know without these, people who care for me will still love me, still they are very much a great source of motivation to my being.=) thanks lovelies.. you know who you are.

And i shall share again my usual hoard of pictures to see what i have been up to the past 2 weeks..

::Post-exam Destress at Kster::

Destressing at Kster...


Charlie's Angels...

I'll miss the days of being in social work.. cantering from class to class and the chats and lunches and company..

::Hair-Dyeing and IKEA day::

...no hair-dyeing for my "fake" hair though hahaha.. but my mum and sistaz woke up at 9am to get their hair done at a home salon in Yew Tee.. So i accompanied them..

Feng with her rich, almondy brown hair and me.. good hair day all round=)


Ying preferred red streaks..


Mum touched up her roots and had a haircut..

Had lunch at Wan Chai HK cafe at CCK.. the food was nowhere the standard of Central but nonetheless, i still love my thick toast and yuan yang..


Meis are still furniture-shopping for their new princess rooms.. so we went to IKEA Tampines.. I found this alcove showcase which gave me a great idea of revamping the balcony at my cousin's..


Cosy little corner...

I love creating and designing.. Of cos there's no comparing to Bryan Wong's standards but i do like to do up stuff my own style.. much food for thought to do up my room at my cousin's as well.. heeeez.. wait till i get my coat of paint from pa=)

::Ying's bday::

Oh.. i got a glimpse of BB for the first time.. and i fell head over heels in love.. Isn't it sweet? BB was a bday gift for Ying from her pals.. and she finally convinced my parents to let her bring it home.. after her room is done of course.


Very much in his own world...


BB is very camwhoric as well.. Ying says he knows how beautiful he is and the camera always manages to capture his best angle.. Feng says he looks like a soft toy in this pic.. My heart keeps melting over how he clutches tight to me when i held him gingerly for the first time, afraid he will fall..


Happy finally-TWENTY to my pesky sis hahaha...


20.. lalala.. soon you'll be 30.. wahhahaha


Kiss for the birthday girl from mummy...


"murdering" the cake.. which was a delish oreo cheesecake btw.. but it started my cold and cough i suspected..=(

::Flooooo:::

my darlin darlin flo is back from her numerous school and msia trips.. happie happie.. she's the sweetest ever.. always always so sweet to me.. now what did i do to deserve her? hahaha.. thanks for the christmas treat, earrings and KTV dear.. though it was short..=( Must meet up v v soon again k?? huggies..

::My Fairytale::

Magical ballerina musical box in the middle of Orchard Road.. loved loved the fairytaley image.... *dreamz*... but too many people fighting to take a picture of it for me to capture the illusion properly.. saddd..

::The Line International Buffet::

Our annual treat to The Line at Shangri-La.. sweet Mummy made this a annual tradition for us to dine in luxurious fashion... it's a v v special treat and very much treasured as it does not come by so easily.. (read last yr's entry: http://that-piece-of-sky.blogspot.com/2007_01_01_archive.html about The Line)

fresh seafood much sought after by the diners.. there was a queue each time a serving comes..


much loved...


My ultra-sweet creation...


Ying with another Bday gift from her pals.. a Damier bag from LV.. I went to make the purchase with her.. The queue to enter LV was atrocious. i was appalled by the amount of expenditure going on in the luxury store.

Grace and i agreed that Singaporeans are really rich.


Complimentary cake for the Birthday Gal from the staff at The Line.. though we agreed the desserts served at the buffet itself were much better.. O joy the chocolate fondue.. we had our personal fondue back on our table when i filled a dessert bowl with rich flowing chocolate from the fountain. meis dint want to be seen with me at all.. grinz


I love my carbs.. crusty roll and butter always does the trick for me.

... and my cold and cough persisted..=..(

::Early Christmas dinner with my healing balm::

Recovered well enough to meet my healing balm for dinner, but she had to come down to my area.. she treated me to Crystal Jade.. *my frens are really too sweet to me le..sobs* and we watched the newly-released National Treasure which was surprisingly good. Great plot and stellar cast.


Outside the cinema waiting to be seated making funny faces.

Grace gave me this very special pair of earrings for my Christmas gift.. (I had to delay hers cos of my flu=().. she designed the earrings and got it made for me.. damn touched. No pic of it yet cos waiting for her to send.. will put it up asap. Really v touched cos i still love home-made gifts best.. Thanks alot dearie.. i know i dun always say what i feel.. but you know.. really, thanks for being my pillar of support through this last stage of our academic stage together... i'm truly glad to be able to walk it to the end with you.. thanks for the most impt thing-your unwavering belief in my ability even when i stopped believing in myself..the most beautiful form of friendship i cun have asked for more.

*****
Another day, another year.. Each passes in more discovery of life's most cruel and most beautiful creation--the human form.. and yet we still plough on in another day, another year.

For every bad, i have the good to remind me of how blessed i am. For every person who hurt me, I have someone who made me feel cherished. For every fall, i have an unwavering hand. For every hurtful remark, i have a voice that speaks up for me. For every bad, i took another step towards self-discovery and self-assurance.

Another day, another year. I embrace all the moments life gives me. As always.

sweet memories...

Cold cold weather... The unletting rain of the monsoon season.. blearghz.. Sometimes it reflects in the heart of the human as well. When you realise things just changed in the span of a year. In any case, i just wanna hold on to whoever's left in my life now... So i will keep on updating my activities with these treasured people, so that i'll remember the sweet memories gone by..
i should stop being such a sap.


Fascinated by the swirly steals of smoke travelling from my aromatherapy oil burning... the swirls do make a beautiful pattern. Like the dreams of yesteryear, you disappeared with a beautiful trail... but it was not to be.. you were not meant to last Okay i was just blardy bored..

::Bored and Tired in the midst of exams::

..that i went out with my 2 fave babes.. and re-watched Enchanted and Stardust.. Hatez exams.. makes me lose my appetite and beauty sleep.. In any case, my babessss are the best.. hugs and starlight to gracie and von..


some cool new design of the exterior of Chanel that gracie was fascinated with outside Taka.. According to her, it follows the unique tweed design of Chanel jackets. i wouldn't know.. i'm not the brand whore here.. grinz. But nonetheless, it's still pretty cool.. imagine them enlarging the tweed design and using it as a decor.. kudos for creativity.


Ahhh.. something i relate more to... an M&M candy house outside Lido.. sooo coooool.. makes me wanna go into the house-shop and buy a truckload of M&Ms..


Giant M&Ms.. yummmmmmmy..


Chicken roulette at Phin's. Beautifully arranged and stuffed with veggies. Plus cute waiter for eye candy for von and me wahahahahaha..


I am happy. and i have a FAT face.. BOOOO


pretty vonnie with her spag.. surprisingly the cream sauce isn't too jelat..


A slice of the seasonal Turkey Pizza at Pizza Hut.. from pizza dinner with cousin, naughty but cute nephews and sweetz sisters.. it's really good.


Happy!! Last day of exams..


Silly Pa actually took up my suggestion of choosing calm blue paint. Only thing is I told him i wanted it for MY room.. but he painted the whole living room in this colour.. But i'm happy. it's like being in the sky. wahhahaa.. sisters were appalled though hahahahaha..


my healing balmy and me at Imperial Treasure. Never get tired of xiao long bao. Plus its a cheaper cafe meal wahahahaha.


there to hold me when i falter... much much kisses and hugz.


pretty christmassy lights at Marina Square.. but not as pretty as last year or this year.. NOOOO.. no more thinking abt those periods.. anw my healing balm looks pretty here=)


Wholesome chocolatey goodness at Max Brenner's.


Cacao bags which grace wanna bring a bag home.


Plate of wholesome goodness.
I am always fascinated by the different ways chocolate is served here. Here, Grace ordered this Kakao thing, where you are supposed to melt the dark chocolate over a tealight with milk and drink it.


ooohz...


Drinking it..


my more common plate of Belgian waffles with ice-cream and a plate of rich cherry sauce.. For the amount, the price was extremely reasonable at 12.


Plate of rich cherry sauce with fresh cherries oozing.. ooooh...


Very happy with my dessert.

FULL Week...

...not just with exams but alot of food, movies, people and packing up as well...

Too tired to say much.. so let the photolog do its job..

::Vivo with my SW babes::

Took a break in the midst of my papers (after my evening commty-based paper technically) and had dinner at Vivo's Marche's with von, samantha and her bf. It was an impromptu decision.. and having no place in mind particularly, we decided to go to Vivo's to see what they have.. and then decided on Marche's. The last time i had Marche's was in JC, so the refreshing variety of foods displayed in front of me was an appealing sight.. all the breads, pasta, potatoes and pretty desserts.. I wanted to eat them all!! And it did alot to whet my appetite.. kinda lost my appetite in the midst of preparations of exams.. which is a first for me. We shared dishes amongst us 4 but all were too tired to take pics, plus no one brought a digicam. Hope to go back again sooooon.. thinking about the food now again is making me salivate again.. haha.

The only pic i had from the impromptu dinner was a picture of the enormous X'mas tree on the children's play area/the chillout area overseeing Harbourfront.



Pretty?? I love the lettering of the words but my hp camera doesn't do it justice. I told my cousin i wanted to buy a snowman for X'mas like grace did too, and she just ignored me. In any case, she is not even spending X'mas in Singapore this year hahaha.. no point in my snowman too..

After my hectic week of 3 papers...

::Dinner out with a SW bunch of ppl::


the poly-grads bunch.. though i wasn't from poly, i am also going to graduate at the end of this semester as they do.. Alot of nolstagic pondering.. What i find heartwarming and fuzzy about this dinner is that though they are not the usual bunch of people i hang out with, we could just click.. it is the SW spirit i swear.. the community-homey feel about being in this major.. I never experience anythg like this in Lit or Soci i swear..

We headed to Fong Seng (prata place outside the school, behind Arts Fac) for dinner, as Chan Min said she doesn't want to graduate without having eaten Fong Seng (well-known with NUS Arts ppl particularly) once. Haha.

ALOT of camwhoring...


Li Ling was the only one who realised i was sneaking a pic.. she said she is very camera-sensitive..


Chan Min and Diana "sticking" against the wall to fit into camera lens.


With Grace (not healing balm grace haha) and Xiuwen.. Do you know these 2 girls are very "zhi(4) lian(4)'? When we started bluetoothing the pics to each other, "Princess Grace" and "Wen Wen Gong(1) Zhu(2)" appeared on my list of bluetooth nicks.. I almost died-ed.. reminds me of a certain someone really.. her name is von hahaha..


Chan Min took an unflattering photo of me when i was writing autograph for Diana.. I look so retarded!! haha.. Talking about autographs.. manz.. i must 'kowtow' to Diana... The last time i wrote one was in Sec 4.. haha.


Happy bunch though the food sux really.. haha.. but the company's what counts.


With Chan Min.. she's the camwhorer of the night really. Walking around the table taking individual shots with everyone. We started laughing at her at a point in time and asked if she's taking pictures on her wedding day.. flitting from guest to guest.

Our camwhoring continues on the bus...

This is one hilarious picture.. Haha.. At the very last moment, i decided my hair was messy and moved to tidy it when li-ling clicked on the button. Funny thing is Diana had her head leaning towards where my head was sposed to be for the picture. hahaha..


Phyllisa joined us!
I have this huge zit on my chin that appears on every pic la! *wails* Even hp cameras which dun show your flaws so much and my concealer (time for new concealer! bought my perfect ettusias on sat. it has medicating powers for acne too!! Highly recommended!!) can't hide it!! Stupid exam-cum-period stress!!!


With Li Ling.. although she complained of tired-ness (had 2 papers that day poor gal) and was already stoning in the midst of camwhoring in Fong Seng. But she still requested to take pic with me.. aww.. touched.

When you bond, time is not the issue really... I hope the holiday plans of meet-ups and outings i made with them and my sw clique come through during the Dec hols manz..

::My Day Out alone::

I decided to take a day out myself to relax on Friday, after the crazy week. Decided to watch 2 movies all by myself. One reason was most of my babes are still preparing for papers on Monday so can't ask them.. (i only had one left on the following Friday) The most impt reason is i really miss my alone-time and the fact that when i watch movies myself, i dun have to compromise on movies!! i can just watch what i like. This is also topped with the fact that i have postponed watching these 2 particular ones till after at least my crazy week is over. So yupz, good break all round=)

##Lust, Caution##

I kinda regretted watching the R21 version of "Lust, Caution". Haiz. Besides the fact that the theatre was filled with old, sleazy and desperate uncles and aunties who are so obviously there to see porn, specifically Tony Leung's balls, (i think i am the youngest in the theatre lor), I seriously dun even get the sex scenes at all. I find them quite disturbing in fact. Reason why i wanna re-watch is that i heard the sexual scenes built to some kind of climax, and i wanna see how Wang Jiazhi's decision in the end was affected by the build-up, which wasn't shown in the censored version. There was this heart-splitting moment when she spilled out her emotions to the spy leader and i wanna see what leads up to that--her hesitations and inner conflicts. But maybe i just can't appreciate the sex scenes at all. But i do admire Lee Ang's artistic direction. I love the setting of 1942 Shanghai, and the classy elegance of Mrs Mak in her beret and overcoat and alluring cheongsams.. sigggghhh... Now why doesn't Singapore have cold enough weather to warrant that kind of dressing?



See how classy and timeless her dressing is??? I couldn't stop gushing about them to gracie hahahaa..

**Stardust**


Loved it!!! Particularly how Yvaine keeps glowing like a star when she is happy.. she sooo cannot hide her emotions lor.. Now why can't I glow like a star when i'm happy too instead of turning red?? Red is soo not a nice colour.. And I loved how she'll keep going, "What does a star do? It shines!" The love story is refreshing, with a stellar cast.. Just leaves me with a happy, fuzzy feeling.

::Chillout with Gracie::

Had a nice relaxing Sat with my healing balm watching a heartwarmingly sweet movie and having BK's ultra-soft crossaint-wich for breakfast and dim sum for lunch.. Can feel my appetite coming back le.. grinz. Just a good chillout time in the midst of papers.. the poor babe has 6 exams.. she starts and ends same time as me though. Happie to go through the last lap of academics with my healing balm.=)

~*~Enchanted~*~



Giselle is just sooo surreal... and her dresses are to-die-for too!! I can't get over how she'll just cut out the dresses from whatever cloth's available--curtains... carpets.. And Patrick Dempsey's reactions everytime he sees his coverings cut up... Hahahaa... She is my childhood dream really. Movie left us in stitches, screaming in laughter. Light-hearted candy for a exam period=)=)=)

::Packing and painting over the weekend::

My sisters are having their personal rooms revamped and this week was removing of furniture fixtures so my pa could start painting the room.. This is Ying's room, painted in some sunny peachy colour.. my Pa is a wonderful painter. He complained no one helped him, but being perfectionistic, he thinks he still does it best. My sisters and i took a few fun rolls with the paint sponge, under his critical eye, but that's all. But yeah, my pa's da best!


Took a pic of my parents and feng standing in the middle of the room while my dad fixed the lamp back. Yeah, Ying can look forward to a new room when she comes home from work tonight.

I am looking forward to furniture shopping with my darlin' sisters after the exams.. Looking out for a display case(s) for my Sylvanians too. Any recommendations? I have been looking through catalogs but no suitable ones.


The mess in my parents' living room. I did my share of work by packing my own stuff to bring over to my cousin's. Yay! got 2 rooms in my cousin's again. The study is once again vacated, so i have moved all my study stuff and electronic stuff and toys back, so my bedroom is emptier. She's so sweet to me. Hee.

Should go sleep to prep for consultation tmr.. ermz.. ya still got one more exam on friday.